UK Public Sector Set To Cut Carbon Emissions Over Next Five Years

Around 120 public sector organizations in the UK, including central government departments, local authorities, schools, universities, police and fire services, and NHS trusts have joined Carbon Trust programs to help them cut their energy use and carbon emissions further over the next five years.

According to Carbon Trust, these programs have the potential to deliver cost savings in excess of half a billion pounds through energy saving projects and can go even further.

Since 2001, more than 3000 public sector organizations have worked with the Carbon Trust. The energy-saving projects they have implemented during that time is expected to deliver combined cost savings of GBP650m over their lifetime and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 6.5 million tonnes.

Further public sector projects could deliver additional cost savings of up GBP3bn and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 34 million tonnes.

Richard Rugg, head of public sector at Carbon Trust, said: “The UK public sector has shown impressive leadership in recent years in tackling carbon emissions and bringing down energy use.

“It is especially encouraging to see that, along with greater levels of knowledge and skills, we are also seeing a steady increase in ambition. A few years ago, organizations graduating from our public sector carbon management programs aimed, on average, to cut their carbon emissions by 12% over five years, now they are aiming for 30%.”

The Carbon Trust’s annual carbon management programs for the public sector enable local authorities, universities and NHS trusts to collaborate in developing and implementing carbon reduction plans. Around 400 have already completed the program.